KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 (Bernama) — Amid the risks and challenging uncertainties in the global economy surrounding the US-China trade talks, investors remained confident about Malaysia as an investment destination. The country successfully attracted a total of RM53.9 billion approved investments in the manufacturing, services and primary sectors for the first quarter of 2019 (Q1 2019), an increase of 3.1% from the same period last year (RM52.3 billion). The positive investment growth of Q1 2019 was mainly driven by the robust performance of the manufacturing sector that soared by 126.8% compared to Q1 2018.
Foreign investments increased by 73.4% to RM29.3 billion from RM16.9 billion in the first quarter of 2018. Domestic investments approved in Q1 2019 amounted to RM24.6 billion, contributing 45.6% to the total. The investments approved in January to March 2019 were from 1,678 projects, and are expected to generate more than 41,200 job opportunities for the country. The manufacturing sector accounted for the largest share of total potential employment in the economy with 22,970 job opportunities or 55.7%, followed by the services sector with 18,000 job opportunities (43.7%) and primary sector with 240 employment opportunities (0.6%).